1. Overview

A pie chart is a data visualization that displays each value as a part of a pie or donut that represents its percentage of the total. Multiple hierarchies and levels can be displayed by a pie chart using outer rings.

2. Add a pie chart from the toolbar

To add a pie chart to your dashboard, go to the toolbar, click Data Visualization, and then select Pie / Sunburst. An empty pie chart is added to the canvas.

Next, add a row hierarchy by dragging the sales territory Name column onto the pie chart. You'll see the pie chart animate into multiple slices where each slice corresponds to the percentage of total for each row hierarchy value (e.g., territory).

As another example, if the row hierarchy added to the pie chart has multiple levels, you can drill down, drill up, or change level in the pie chart by right-clicking on a pie slice (data point) in View mode. (On a tablet, use long-tap in place of right-click.)

4. Create a sunburst chart

A sunburst chart displays multiple hierarchy levels using concentric rings. The innermost rings correspond to the top hierarchy levels (e.g., years or product category) whereas the outermost rings correspond to the bottom hierarchy levels (e.g., months or product subcategories). As you move outward from the center of a sunburst chart, the pie pieces get broken down into smaller and smaller pieces. Sunbursts are considered similar to treemaps but with a different layout.

To create a two-level sunburst chart, first add a measure to an empty pie chart.

4.1. Multiple row hierarchies

Instead of adding different levels from the same hierarchy, you can also create a sunburst chart by adding multiple row hierarchies (e.g., add Product hierarchy first, and then add OrderDate hierarchy).

4.2. Multiple measures

It is also possible to add multiple measures to a pie chart. This will result in a ring for each measure, as well as a separate series for each measure. However, this type of visualization is generally not considered to be a sunburst and there is no guarantee that the slices of one series (ring) will match up with the slices of another series.